Circles
by Marauder-In-Disguise
Summary: Erin Strauss isn't stupid, no matter what David Rossi seems to think... Entry for the Theme Song Challenge, over on CCOAC!
1. Artistes of Espionage

**A/N – My entry for the Theme Song Challenge over on CCOAC. My prompt was Erin Strauss and 'Heard it on the Grapevine' by Marvin Gaye. I hope it did it justice…this kind of got away from me a bit!**

**Disclaimer – If I owned it, TG would have already signed a contract…Enough said.**

_-We dance around in a circle and suppose, but the secret sits in the middle and knows-  
>-Robert Frost-<em>

It was a good thing, Erin Strauss mused, that none of the profilers in the BAU were required to carry out any undercover work. It was odd really; Derek Morgan had been an undercover uniform for a while, and Prentiss had a sealed CIA file that screamed covert operation, so at some point they at least must have been good at blending in and doing things unnoticed. Perhaps FBI life had made them soft, their distinct lack of tact pointing either to stupidity or arrogance. As she was a generous woman, she would go for the latter; they were, after all, victims of the 'Aaron Hotchner Effect' -having a fervent belief that what they were doing was so right that they didn't need to hide it.

Of course it hadn't escaped her notice that the main team had effectively disappeared; with Hotchner and Doctor Reid out on an interview, the short-handed team should have all been at their desks with enough paperwork to keep them out of trouble. Instead, by half past eleven, they were all conspicuously absent and Garcia was tidying up a mess in David Rossi's office, unaware that she was being watched. Erin leaned on the handrail with a sigh, eying first the flitting streaks of colour that were Penelope Garcia at work and then the empty desks of her teammates. She knew that David Rossi was responsible for this somehow. He'd only been back for a couple of months and already he was causing the trouble she'd predicted. At least Hotchner was bound by his obligation as unit chief; the paperwork kept him under control. Rossi, on the other hand, was almost free to do what he wanted. He didn't need the money that the FBI paid him and he seemingly had very little to prove, yet he had chosen to return. Erin wasn't stupid; she knew that his desire to come back was based on something much larger than his friendship with Hotchner or a sudden need to help clean up the mess that Jason Gideon had left behind him. Rossi's undeniable dedication to profiling was the reason she had eventually accepted his offer, but that still didn't mean she trusted him.

And this little incident only proved that she was right. It was time to call him out. As long as Jareau wasn't on a mission to lose her job, there would be something filed somewhere to show where they were headed. Failing that, Garcia would certainly know, although a visit to the analyst would be the last on the list of options; whatever Rossi was up to, it wasn't Garcia's fault and she didn't deserve to be victimised at the expense of the old dog. That just wouldn't be fair.

With decisive steps, Erin marched to her office. Her secretary, Hannah, was typing, her blonde hair falling into her eyes as she hunched over the computer screen. She brushed it away impatiently, grinning up at her approaching boss even as she did.

"Coffee time?"

"Yes, please," Erin said distractedly, a note of concern in her voice, "You're still too close to that thing. Haven't I told you to go and get your eyes tested?"

"Yes ma'am," the young woman said sheepishly, "I'll get round to it."

"Make sure you do. I don't want to have to make it an order. Now, before the coffee, I need you to find out where Aaron Hotchner's team is headed right now."

"Ma'am? We saw him and Spencer heading out this morning. For the interview."

"I know that," Erin replied patiently, ignoring Hannah's familiar use of the young doctor's name, "The rest of the team has since disappeared. Please find out where they are going."

"Yes ma'am. I'll get right on it."

_**-CIRCLES-**_

"Indianapolis," Hannah said twenty minutes later, letting herself into the office after only a brief knock, "Agent Jareau put in a request for the jet two hours ago."

"Indianapolis?" Erin repeated, her brow furrowed as she sat back in her chair, "Why on earth would they be going there?"

"I don't know for sure, ma'am, but according to Agent Carey, his team hasn't heard anything about Indiana, let alone Indianapolis specifically. He usually knows everything."

Impressed at her secretary's initiative in going to speak to Carey, the only team leader who seemed to know everything about everyone else's business, Erin was about to interrupt when Hannah opened her mouth again.

"He _did _say that he heard Penelope Garcia telling her team this morning that Agent Rossi had gone to Indianapolis by himself. That's all I could find out. I didn't want to ask Garcia…"

"No, I'm glad you didn't," Erin nodded, her theory confirmed, "And thank you. That's exactly what I wanted to know."

Hannah flushed slightly, her blonde hair and pale skin only betraying her as the red crept up her neck and onto her cheeks, "You're welcome, ma'am. Is there anything else?"

"Not regarding this. I'll take it from here."

As soon as Hannah closed the door behind her, Erin picked up the phone and opened her address book. For a brief moment, she had considered phoning Rossi directly and asking him what the hell he was doing, but then she thought for a moment longer and knew that he would only become defensive if she did that. She thought about phoning Morgan and demanding that he, Prentiss and Jareau come back immediately, but realised that there was something happening in Indiana that all three were willing to risk their necks for and, she had to admit, she was a little intrigued.

She put the phone down again and flicked through the book again, reading the names of agents and contacts long retired scattered amongst those who were still active and useful now. David Rossi, for all his fame and fortune, was an enigma. There were few people who knew him well enough to know what he could possibly be doing; one of them was Aaron Hotchner and another was Jason Gideon. Certainly neither of them would be any use. She stopped on Rossi's name, gazing thoughtfully at the numbers she had for him, until her eye settled on another entry, a few spaces below. It was going out on a limb, but it might be worth trying. She picked up the phone and dialled. It only took three rings before a gruff voice answered.

"Hello?"

"Max?" she sat back, allowing a small smile to creep onto her face, "It's Erin Strauss."


	2. With Friends Like These

**For disclaimer, see chapter one**

"I know it's you, Erin," Max said, his tone carefully neutral, "I know your voice anywhere."

"I'm touched, Max," Erin replied, unable to keep the sardonic note from her own voice, "After all these years?"

Max was another face from her past who had always managed to get under her skin. The bad-boy image that most of the early BAU tried to live up to had originated with him as much as it had with Rossi, and anyone who had the misfortune of even walking past the BAU bunker back in those days was privy to a lot of what they got up to. Erin had been around the day that Jason Gideon made his infamous run into the director's office - working in the director's private office in fact - but unlike most of the people in the building, she didn't find it funny. Gideon always seemed like an outsider within the boy's club that was the BAU, being a tad too quiet and sensitive, and Erin didn't like the way that they picked on him. And in particular, she didn't like the way they had always done it with a smile and a pat on the back.

"Cut the smarmy talk, Erin," Max snapped, his voice much more suited to the usual style of their exchanges, "What do you want?"

"Information."

"On what?" he hesitated momentarily, probably due to the bluntness of her answer, "If its case related, Jason will-"

"Jason is no longer with the BAU," she said, aware of the regret in her voice but allowing it to remain, "And David Rossi has come out of retirement to take his place."

"No kidding?" Max said thoughtfully, and she heard the creak of what could only be a desk chair, "Jason finally decided to lecture full time?"

"He's travelling," she said quickly, unwilling to share any details of Jason's departure beyond what people needed to know, "But I don't want to talk about him."

"You want to talk about David, I assume? Well I must admit, I'm surprised to hear you tell me he's back."

"I was surprised too, Max," she leaned forwards, picking up a pen that lay abandoned on the paperwork and twirling it in her fingers. She needed to tread carefully here, to avoid Max closing up on her, "And I need you to tell me something."

His answer was the only one she didn't expect.

"Indianapolis."

"How did-"

"There's only one reason Rossi would come back to the BAU. Indianapolis. And judging by how pissed you sound, he's probably already done something about it."

There weren't many times that Erin Strauss was without something to say, but as she sat for a brief moment and listened to Max breathe at the other end of the line, there really was almost nothing that sprang to mind.

Almost nothing.

"Once a profiler, always a profiler."

"You asked, Erin," Max said, the hostility in his voice replaced by resignation, "And I know you want to know the rest."

"I need to know. He's disappeared this morning and taken half his team with him. Unless I can get a very good reason, all of their heads are on plates the minute they get back."

"So no pressure then," the man replied snidely, "You always were the caring type."

"Max-"

"Well there's not much to tell," he continued, ignoring her interruption, "David was in Indianapolis in 1988 on a rapist, I think, and he was riding with one of the deputies when the guy got a call about a domestic disturbance in the suburbs. David called it in with him and they found three little kids covered in their parent's blood and screaming blue murder. Some psycho had murdered them, Erin, in their bed whilst those kids slept. They never found the guy but David couldn't let it go. He kept revisiting the case but he never got any further. If he's back now, that's the only reason. Twenty years ago, if you do the math. Not a great anniversary."

"Why is he so obsessive?" Erin asked, feeling a bite of anger despite the tragedy of the story. So the bastard had been lying to her all along, "You've all seen worse than that haven't you?"

"It was bad, Erin. I saw the pictures. But that's not the point. It was the kids. He promised them that they would find the guy. It tore him up, I think, every year that went by when they didn't get an answer."

"So he was lying," she spat, "I knew it."

"I'd go easy on him, Erin, if I were you," Max said gently, "There's more to it than I think I'm entitled to tell you but trust me, it's never been easy."

"Tell me. His job is on the line here, along with three other agents."

"Fine," Max snapped, the momentary gentleness in his voice extinguished in the face of her threat, "Wife number one left him because of it. He couldn't stop obsessing. He had nightmares. He probably still does. And the last straw was when he refused to get a Christmas tree in 1989. He couldn't look at it, knowing that those kids were suffering and he couldn't do anything to help them. She left him, probably just when he needed her the most. It's painful and it's personal. So cut him some slack!"

His tirade over, Max slammed the phone down and Erin was left listening to the dialling tone. She put her own phone down more carefully and sat gazing at the desk as though it was somehow to blame. Rossi had always come across as one of the most detached agents she had ever met, the complete polar opposite to Jason Gideon and his book and his photographs. Her lasting impression of him, before his retirement, was of an arrogant troublemaker, who the bosses only tolerated because he was so good at what he did. In the relatively small building that the offices were housed in back then, it was difficult for anyone in any department to avoid anyone else. Yet there was apparently this whole side to Rossi that she had no idea about. If there had been a marked change in his behaviour, surely she would have noticed it? But then, she vaguely remembered hearing about his divorce, and perhaps he _had_ changed after that; angrier, less likely to tolerate someone making a mistake, more often seen disappearing with a woman that would never be seen with him again and who afterwards would talk about how abrasive he was. She'd always put it down to the divorce. It made more sense if there was something else too.

The part of Erin that was angry at the man for lying was still fuming, but it was being quite readily silenced by the part of her that actually felt sorry for him. Nightmares, Max had said. No one deserved that, not when they had dedicated their life to helping people. She knew that a lot of the field agents tended to be affected by their work – she'd arranged enough time off and time with counsellors to be privy to this fact – but to have nightmares for twenty years? That wasn't right.

She knew exactly what she should do. She knew exactly what would happen if she let David Rossi slip through the net this time. He'd think himself invincible, above any power she could wield, and what kind of message would that send to his team, who already caused enough of a headache to be a problem? It would be like signing her own death warrant, and for what? He'd never thank her. He'd probably never even know how close he came to getting half his team fired. He'd still look at her with that venom that she wasn't even sure how she had earned, and she'd still answer right back with a sarcastic comment designed to protect both of them from the fact that they were too damn similar and that's why they didn't like one another.

Oh yes, she knew exactly what she _should_ do.

She also knew exactly what she was _going_ to do.


	3. Silent Champion

**For disclaimer, see chapter one.**

She was watching for Aaron, leaving her office the moment she saw him and Doctor Reid step into the bullpen. She saw the look that the two of them shared before the younger man headed for his desk and wondered what had happened on such a simple interview to make them share the silent exchange. She suspected it was nothing to do with Chester Hardwicke and wondered if the pair, who as far as she could tell always played their cards close to their chests, had actually opened up enough to share something personal. In a way, she hoped so. It would probably do them both some good.

She continued to watch as Aaron gazed around at the empty desks of his team, glanced at Rossi's dark office and then headed in the direction of Garcia's office, his brow furrowed. When he came back ten minutes later, he was on the phone and he did not look amused. Whoever he was talking to was getting their ear chewed off and Erin was glad. Anything she decided to do to David would never bother the man as much as anything Aaron said.

She waited another five minutes after Aaron's door snapped shut and then made her way there, greeting Doctor Reid on the way. The young man wasn't her biggest fan, that much she knew, but she always appreciated that of everyone on the main team, he always made an effort to hide that fact. He nodded, a small, tight smile on his face as he watched her climb the stairs to Aaron's office. At least one person still understood the implications of pissing her off. He wasn't called a genius for nothing.

She knocked on Aaron's door and waited for his terse consent before she opened the door. He was gazing moodily at his phone, looking up only when she stepped into the room. His expression changed, minutely but enough for her to notice, and he sat up a little straighter.

"Ma'am-"

"How was your interview?"

He didn't miss a beat in answering, although they both knew that he was expecting a very different topic of conversation.

"Not the most productive we've ever done."

That was the lawyer answering, the part of himself that Aaron let take over when he didn't want to answer a question. She could have called him on it, of course, but this wasn't a hostile visit. Erin Strauss had never been great at tact, preferring to get things done directly and damn the consequences, but this seemed like a time when kid-gloves were very appropriate. Aaron looked exhausted, his eyes bright with something she couldn't quite identify, and he didn't deserve any trouble for what Rossi had done any more than Garcia did.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said conversationally, "A long drive for nothing then."

"Yes."

She leaned back on the doorpost and folded her arms. He was watching her warily, waiting for the inevitable.

"I talked to Max Ryan today."

"Max? What for?"

"I needed some information, pertaining to an old case in Indianapolis. He told me some rather interesting things."

Aaron was looking down at his hands as he replied, "I see. Ma'am-"

"You know what I should do, don't you Aaron? Deciding to up and head out for a case that has been cold for twenty years is not a productive use of time or resources, especially without the permission of the unit chief."

He looked up at her, steadying that famous stare of his on her face. This was the Aaron Hotchner she was used to – one that would face her down. The Aaron Hotchner she didn't need the kid-gloves for.

"What's going to happen?"

"Luckily, I was out of the office today. I didn't notice empty desks and offices that should have been full. I didn't even know people had been missing until I came back in the early evening and by then I didn't know if the unit chief had authorised it or not. I didn't ask questions and I went home. That is lucky, don't you think?"

Aaron Hotchner was many things, but he was not an idiot, and so although his eyes widened slightly, he nodded and simply said, "Thank you, ma'am. Very lucky indeed."

With a nod, she turned to leave. Reaching for the door handle, she looked at him one last time. He was still watching her.

"It's good that the section chief knows she can leave it to the unit chief to take the necessary steps to make sure it doesn't happen again. And that she knows the unit chief is discrete enough to keep private conversations to himself."

She didn't wait for his reply, closing the door gently and making her way down the stairs. Reid was still at his desk, working hard to make it look like he wasn't watching her, and so she ignored him as well. Let them think what they wanted about her – she didn't care. David Rossi would owe her for this but he'd never find out and so she'd never cash in on the favour. By the time she'd made it back to her office, Erin had convinced herself that by overlooking this indiscretion, she had actually won. Aaron knew that they owed her and that was more productive than Rossi begrudging the debt, because Aaron's ridiculously honed sense of right and wrong would be enough to ensure that his oldest team member was kept in line from now on in.

No, this was most definitely an Erin Strauss victory.

And if Rossi could sleep a little easier at night because of it, who was she to argue?


End file.
